Saving Hope
by wolfshalom
Summary: A jumper and her friends are taken in by Shield (better than it sounds). I'm still working on developing the plot.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first crossover: please be patient. Reviews always welcome.**

**Chapter One**

I quickly hot wire the truck and leap in quickly, slamming the door hard behind me.

"Drive man!" I yell. The owner of this white truck is racing up and he looks completely and totally homicidal, "DRIVE! Get us moving!" I scream and Jordan slams down on the gas, throwing me back into the seat.

"You stupid kids! You just wait until I catch up with you!" The man howls and he looks absolutely livid. "When I catch you-!" I cut him off as I close my eyes and the car vanishes from sight. Seconds later we're at a highway three states away.

'_Catch' us? Dude, you can't even _touch_ us! You want to get me? Well, Bring. It. On!_

**…**

That night, I jump us to South Georgia and we bed down in an old barn. A warm summer breeze rustles the grass outside and a gentle rain tickles the old tin roof above us while I spray paint the truck blue and change the license plates.

My seven year old sister, Chava, yawns and stretches out on the backseat. She curls into a ball and I gently put my jacket over her to help keep her warm. My cousin, Jordan, and friend, Caleb, make a fire, wrap five large yams up in aluminum foil, and push them close to the glowing red embers. My best friend, Serina, watches me contently and smiles widely when our eyes meet.

"Did you see that guy's face?" She asks and I laugh.

"Yeah! It was red like a tomato!" I say and we both break into laughter.

She passes me a screwdriver and I sit back to admire my handiwork. The owner will never recognize this vehicle again let alone the police. As far as anyone else knows: it's ours. Now we just have to worry about the Paladins catching up and killing me and my friends for knowing me…

But we have a truck now.

That's cool, right?

**…**

The boys finish cooking dinner and quickly pass out the food: one cooked yam for everyone, a few bags of chips, and two oranges. It's not much, but at least we have something to eat. After we eat, I lie on my back in the hay and curl into a ball. I can hear the others yawning around me and soon, they're all fast asleep.

Little did I know, our lives were about to make a change for the better.

Well…sort of.

**…**

We meet them the next day. Sunlight streams in from the cracks in the boards. I jerk awake and sit up as a rooster begins to crow outside. I swipe my hand over my eyes and yawn widely. Outside, I can hear gravel crunching as a small black car pulls up.

_Peace out, dude! _

Within minutes, I have everyone else awake. We quickly pile back into the van and I jump us away into an abandoned alley. Jordan throws the truck into drive and we speed away.

A few hours later, we're playing baseball in an old abandoned lot. I teleport high into the air to catch the ball and just as quickly jump back on the ground and tag Caleb out on first. He glares at me and claims that I cheated. I simply smile and him and blow him a kiss mockingly. Caleb rolls his eyes and sighs.

"I got you." He points his fingers at me and I smirk at him.

"Come at me, bro."

"Would you look at that?" An unfamiliar voice sounds I whirl around quickly. A man in a suit is walking towards us and an Asian woman stays close to his side. "It's been a while since we've seen a teleporter." He says and he smiles kindly.

I narrow my eyes at him. They're definitely from the government. _Whatever it is that they're selling, I'm not interested._

"Who are you?" I ask and I can feel the others standing behind me.

From the corner of my eye, I see Serina grab Caleb and she readies herself to turn them both invisible should this encounter turn dangerous. Chava inches towards me and slips her hand through mine. If this turns ugly, I'll jump Chava somewhere safe and then come back for Jordan. Serina will keep her and Caleb hidden—it'd be a waste of time to try to look for them. We'll all meet up later at a McDonald's in this city.

"I'm Special Agent Coulson and this is my associate, Agent May." The man answers smoothly. "And you are?"

"Hope." I say and I watch him like a wolf would watch a mountain lion. "Hope Snider."

"Well, Hope. We help people like you—people with…unusual abilities." He looks at me calmly and smiles but I don't trust him. "In fact, if you want, I'd like to ask you if you and your friends here would like to join Shield. We've been keeping a close eye on your activities and you all seem to be quite gifted. We could use people of your talents at Shield."

He looks kind but I've played this game before. A lot of people are nice until they suddenly put a gun to your head or a knife to your throat. To go with this guy could very well be suicide. For all I know, he's working with the Paladins. That makes him dangerous.

"Sure you do…" I say and I warily take a few steps back and the others follow suit.

"We mean you no harm." He pulls a gun out and I tense.

He smiles again and puts the weapon on the ground and kicks it away from him. Coulson stares at Agent May for a long moment, and, with a sigh, she does the same but she glares at him irritably for a moment before looking back to us.

"We saw you up there in the air. Nice catch, by the way." He continues and I watch him carefully.

I still don't trust him. For all I know, he has another weapon concealed somewhere or a whole crew of people hiding in the area with their trigger fingers itching as they catch us in their crosshairs. Something is wrong with this situation—I just know it.

Good things don't happen to us: just tragedy.

"Thanks." I say unconvincingly.

"Where's your family? Your mom? Your dad?"

"None of your business." I snap and he blinks at my sharp response. A flash of guilt slices through my ribcage but it's quickly eclipsed by anger. Who is he to make me feel guilty?

"Here." He puts a card on the ground and backs away from it slowly as if finally sensing that we will not be going anywhere with him in the near future. Man, were we proven wrong. "If you need anything—anything at all—don't hesitate to give me a call." He walks away and Agent May follows after him after gathering up their weapons.

"Well…that was weird." Serina says and I nod.

"You can say that again."

…

It turns out, I'd be making that call less than four hours later. We had jumped into a bad neighborhood to hide in plain sight when, low and behold, things got ugly. Serves me right, I guess. Everyone knows you're supposed to avoid the seedy parts of town not hide in them. Long story short, Chava got hit. A bullet cut through her arm and buried itself firmly into her shoulder. Blood went everywhere and it just kept coming. To take her to a hospital would be dangerous—the Paladins would find us for sure!

So, I made the call.

And Shield came.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A jet hovers overhead above our rickety barn. I twist my body of Chava and keep my hands on a rag that's pressed to her wound as I try frantically to slow the bleeding. The Asian woman, May, digs her fingers into my shoulder and helps me to stand. A young man with dark black hair moves forward to gather Chava in his arms and I watch him warily.

The rest of us are quietly ushered into the jet. My heart pounds as I watch a girl they call "Simmons" work on Chava. Her deft fingers move quickly over the wound as she administers stiches. She quickly snaps orders to a boy she calls 'Fitz' and he rushes to carry them out.

"There, all better." The girl says nervously and she gives me a worried smile.

I look at her suspiciously. _What is she so scared of? Me? _I wonder. I won't attack anyone lest the try to harm my friends or me. Should she leave us alone, she has nothing to worry about.

"I'm Simmons." She extends her hand and I cautiously take her hand in mine. Her fingers wrap delicately around my hand and she pumps her arm up and down in greeting. "And this my friend, Fritz."

"Hi." The boy to her right nods to me. "How are you?" He asks.

"Fine…" All this kindness is starting to creep me out, but they helped Chava. They must not be completely horrible…I guess. "And you?"

"Good." He says and he and Simmons walk away.

"They're sort of shy. My name is Skye."

"Hope."

"Nice to meet you."

"Really? You people are acting like I'm a trained assassin or something. Like you'll say something wrong and I'll punch you in the throat or something."

"The last teleporter we met tried to kill us with a large wrench; we're just being cautious."

"Well, let be the first to assure you: I don't own any big wrenches—just small ones."

She smiles at me and I smirk back, "Good to know. So," her fingers wrap lightly around my wrist and I stare down at her hand with an eyebrow raised. "I'm going to introduce you to everyone. You've already met Fitz-Simmons. This is Agent Ward," The black haired boy that had carried Chava. "This is Agent May." May watches me coldly but says nothing. "And you already know Coulson." She pulls me further into the ship and my friends follow.

"So, who are your associates?" Skye asks with a smile. _Why is she so happy? I don't get it. I've given no indication that I like any of them—all I did was assure her that I wouldn't attack them with a wrench! Humans are so weird…_

"This is my best friend, Serina." Serina's blue eyes flash happily. Her long black hair is pulled into a pony tail and she's wearing faded blue jeans and an old purple t-shirt. "This is Jordan, my cousin." He's about six foot three with short blond hair and pale blue eyes. "My friend, Caleb," Caleb is about four inches shorter than Jordan with short, curly brown hair and warm chocolate colored eyes. "And the little girl, Chava, is my sister."

I watch as Ward picks little Chava up and carries her towards where Fitz and Simmons disappeared to. So far, she's still unconscious.

"Are you all teleporters?" She asks and her soft brown eyes seem to glow with an inner joy.

"Jumpers." I correct. "The term is 'Jumpers,' and no. It's just me."

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Then…what do the others do?"

"Jordan can freeze things. Caleb tends to light things on fire, and Serina can turn invisible." _And control emotions as well as walk through walls. Serina and I are just awesome._

I notice Serina is still staring at Ward and he begins to look around irritably. _And it seems as though she's just found her next victim._ He's going to be acting like a hormonal pregnant woman soon enough. I'm not sure who I should feel more sorry for: him or his team.

"What about the little one? 'Chava'?" She asks.

"Nothing a usual seven year old can't do." I lie.

Truth be told, Chava is telekinetic, but I'm not about to tell her that. Not when we're all trapped in a jet with nowhere to run to and nowhere to hide.

"Hm. Neat." She says and she pulls me lightly towards some small dormitories. "Here. This is your room. I'll leave you to think or whatever." She leaves.

By now, my friends have dispersed around the jet. Jordan and Caleb are talking to Coulson and Sirena shadows Ward. I hide a snicker and duck into 'my' dorm. It's small with just enough space for a small bed and dresser. A tiny mirror is on the far wall. It isn't much, but it's more than I've had in a while. I yawn and lie down on the bed. Within minutes, I'm asleep.

**…**

_"__We love you." My mother says and she kisses my forehead gently. _It's midnight. Why did she wake me up to tell me this?_ "We're going to go out for a while, okay, honey?" I nod and blink quickly to try to make my eyes focus—they won't._

_"__Mhmm." I say and I lean against the wall as I struggle to keep my eyes open. She smiles sadly and a few tears slip down her cheeks. _

Why is she crying? She's just going to the store, right? She'll be back soon.

_She pushes me back down into my bed lightly and pulls my blanket up around me and pecks my check. The moisture from her kiss lingers on my face and I clumsily reach my hand up to rub it away. More of her tears fall. She stands abruptly and walks to the doorway. Just as the door begins to ease shut I can just barely catch her next words:_

_"__I'm sorry."_

_I'm too tired to ponder the meaning of her words. _

_When I wake up, the world is falling apart._

**…**

I jerk awake and breath quickly. My heart screams in my ears and leaps into my throat as I fight wildly for air. Cold fingers of terror scratch down my spine and I force myself to stand. When I've calmed down, I swing my backpack over my shoulder and wander down towards the labs where Chava is.

"How is she?" I ask and Fitz looks up at me.

"The girl?" He asks in a thick accent and I nod. "She seems fine—started to stir a lil' while ago. Hopefully, she'll wake soon."

"Alright. Thanks."

"Hope, is it?" The man—Agent Coulson—asks.

"Yes…"

"We're going to be touching down in a secure facility soon where your sister will be receiving more adequate medical attention."

"Thanks." _Why is he so keen on helping us?_

"I've had one of my agents attempt to look into you and your associates. We can't find anything on any data base—would you care to explain?"

"Hm, that's weird." I lie. "Perhaps you didn't look hard enough?" I offer and he narrows his eyes at me.

"If we're going to work together then we need to honest with one another."

"We aren't working together," I point out. "You said 'if I needed help, call' and that's just what I did—no more, no less. My sister has hurt and she needed medical attention—I never agreed to work you."

"You could save lives; think of all the good that you could accomplish." He insists.

"Every person I come in contact with is immediately put into danger. The people who want me dead will stop at nothing to kill me. Where I go, death follows. Do you still want me to join?"

"Try it on a trial basis. And if it doesn't work out, I'll help you and your friends find somewhere safe to live: somewhere where your enemies will never find you." He offers and I look at him—I mean I really look at him…and I search the vast expanse within his blue eyes to try to locate his heart. He's being sincere.

"Alright." I give in. "I guess it can't hurt."

And who knows? Maybe a mass genocide won't occur. If I keep my head down and play nice—just for a little while—I'll put food in our bellies and a roof over our heads all without breaking any laws. Even if it's temporary, it's better than a current situation: homeless and starving.

If I save a few lives along the way, well…who am I to argue?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I'm sitting in the lab watching Fitz-Simmons work. My sister is sleeping peacefully and Fitz is bent over some blue prints. The plane's engine roars quietly in my ears and I can feel the plane beginning to turn to the left ever so slowly. I tense a little before calming.

"First time flyer?" Fitz inquires distractedly.

"That obvious?" I ask.

"Yep." He says before turning back to his work.

"So…where's your family?" Simmons asks me.

"They're gone—I don't know where," I shrug. "It just Chava and I now…and our group. We're a family—I guess," I say softly and Simmons looks at me sadly and offers a tight smile.

"So…these people…the ones who want to kill you…" She stammers and Fitz glances at her and smiles. "Why do they want to do that?"

"They have problems." I say and Simmons laughs.

"Yes, I suppose they do. SO, do you have skills or whatever outside of teleporting?"

"Could you elaborate?" I drum my fingers on the table top.

"Like technical skills or fighting…"

"I'm good with computers—I'm a fairly good hacker and you have to be a decent fighter in order to survive on the streets…um…I'm a rookie inventor but I'm not awesome or anything," I shrug. "But nothing substantial or monumental. No."

"Inventor, eh?" Fitz speaks up and he wanders over. "Make anything lately?" He asks and Simmons chuckles at him. "What?" He raises his eyebrows in confusion and she shakes her head, a smile blooming across her face.

"Nothing." She says and we make eye contact; her eyes are laughing. "Please, go on."

"I made my watch." I offer up my right arm.

My watch is large and metallic. It has a large navy blue face that flashes the time back at me with glowing white letters. The strap is made up of a light, durable, black metal. It is a compass, a watch, a communicator with unlimited range, as well as a hologram projector/recorder.

"What's it do?" Fitz eyes my wrist curiously.

"Tells the time," I give him a weird look and he suddenly looks sheepish. "What else?" I lie easily. I still don't know these people very well. As far as I know, they could all be aligned with the Paladins—or worse: Hydra. I shudder inwardly.

"Oh, okay." Fitz wanders away and Simmons hides a smile.

"I need to talk to you," Coulson addresses me as he walks in. "In fact, I need to talk to everyone. We're having a meeting in five. Make sure you're all there—your group too." He looks at me meaningfully.

**…**

"So, what's up?" Sky asks and Coulson catches us all one by one in his gaze.

"We need to talk."

"So I've gathered." Skye comments and I can imagine that Coulson is envisioning strangling the girl. I'm beginning to like her.

"These kids." He motions to us, "Are all going to be trained as Shield Agents. Their abilities are not to be talked about outside of the group: for both their protection and ours."

"So, we tell no one?" Ward asks. His arms are crossed over his chest and he looks at us suspiciously: he doesn't trust us, and if I were him, I wouldn't either.

"Yes." Coulson says and I can feel May also watching us carefully. "If we don't keep their abilities a secret, their enemies could find them. Until we learn more about the situation and we're up against here, we need to keep it between us."

"Well, what about S.O's?" May asks. "And the younger child? She's much to young for our line of work."

Coulson shrugs, "But she could be used as leverage if she were to be captured by these… 'Paladins'. For now, they'll all stay on our ship. There are five Shield Agents on board: each of you will take one on to teach. The youngest girl is far too young, so I'll exempt her. Ward, you already have Sky under your wing so, it would appear that I'm talking to everyone else. May, you get Tikvah. Simmons, you have Serina. Fitz: Jordan and I guess that leaves me with…Caleb?" Caleb nods in confirmation and Coulson continues: "We're heading to the Hub tomorrow: stay with the person you were assigned with." Coulson leaves and we all stare at each other incredulously.

I can tell that we are all thinking the same exact thing: _WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?!_

**…**

"So…I'm with you, huh?" I ask May and her fists crashes into the punching bag—hard.

"It would appear so." She says and she hits the bag again. I wince. That poor, poor piece of training equipment. "How are you with hand-to-hand combat?" She asks as she turns to me. Automatically, I take a large step backwards to put more distance between her and me. Her lips curl into a small, amused smile.

"I'm okay, I guess." Really, I could easily take down a small platoon of fighters. With people hunting you, it was necessary to know how to fight—how to kill. I had my sister and friends to protect. Fighting was not a skill.

Fighting was life.

"Show me what you got." She says and she watches me carefully.

_Wait—what?_

"Excuse me?" I cock my head slightly to the side in confusion as I wait for her to explain the meaning behind her words: she doesn't.

Instead, she rushes forward.

Her fist races towards my nose and I spin out of the way of her deadly hands and behind her. My foot flies of its own accord into the back of her knee and she crashes to the ground but she rises rapidly: this time with a kick to my head. I duck beneath it and send a fist towards her rib cage; she dodges easily out of the way. We pant for a few moments and study the other cautiously.

"You're far better than 'okay'. I look forward to teaching you more combat skills. We'll start tomorrow at 05:00; don't be late," She says as she walks upstairs.

_Mental note: teleport to Tahiti. They won't try to rip your head off like Shield. Jeez, what have I just agreed to? 'Trial basis'? She's going to kill me! Forget the Paladins—this woman is insane AND deadly! _

But I still show up for training: I'm too scared not too. For hours, we attack each other, do strenuous exercises, and hit the punching bag. At the end, we wolf down breakfast.

"So…" I say and she glances up at me: it's not 06:00. "What's 'the Hub'?"

"A Shield facility." She answers before walking into the cockpit and closing the door behind her. _Well, at least she didn't try to snap my neck this time. I think we're making progress._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Chava is awake and walking around the 'bus' by now; her small hand is clasped tightly in mine. Should anything go wrong, I'll teleport her directly to Japan—as far away from here as humanly possible—before returning to get the others.

"Don't forget." Coulson warns as the plane begins to rocket towards the ground. "Stay with your S.O." Soon, the cargo bay is opening. May walks toward us and I move to stand by her. Her cold black eyes give me a once over before turning to look back at Coulson.

"Is this really necessary?" She asks Coulson pointedly.

"Hopefully, it's just temporary. This is too delicate a situation to tell anyone else. Should the wrong ears hear about it or if our systems were to be hacked, they'd all die." A shiver runs down my spine at his words. He hasn't wrong.

**…**

"Where are we going?" I ask my S.O.

"We?" May looks at me. "I'm taking you and your sister to the gym. I have a meeting to attend."

"I'm supposed to stay with you." I point out and she narrows her eyes irritably at me in an expression I think a cat would make when glaring at a mouse for daring to order it around.

"You don't have a high enough clearance level to come with me." She states before she stops outside a door and looks at me carefully: she doesn't trust me. The feeling is mutual. "Don't break anything or hurt anyone and keep your ability under wraps. I'll be back when the meeting ends." She stalks away and I glance at Chava.

"She's an optimist, by the way," I say sarcastically and Chava smiles a little. I push the doors open and Chava picks up a basketball.

"Want to play?" She asks hopefully.

"Well, it's only fair to warn you," I inch closer slowly, "that you're going to lose!" I swipe the ball from her fingers and send it flying towards the hoop. It bounces off: DARN IT! Why does that always happen?

"You're cheating!" She whines as we both scramble to get to the ball first.

Her leg reaches out to trip me and I skid across the neatly waxed floors. Chava's soft laughter echoes off the walls as I peel myself off of the floor. The ball sails high over my head and falls neatly through the hoop with a loud swish.

"You suck." I complain as I move to my feet slowly.

Chava giggles and rolls her eyes at me, "Come at me." She dribbles the ball on the ground and I eye it. "Take it if you dare." She challenges.

It would not be difficult at all for me to teleport over, pick her up, and teleport high enough in the air to through her into the basketball hoop. But Agent May had forbidden teleportation in public. I sigh. And come at her at a run, my hands open as I rush towards the ball but Chava moves neatly out of the way, wincing slightly from the movement as pain flashes up her arm. I slam hard into the wall and drop to the ground.

Chava laughs.

_Why did I have to get the killjoy as my SO?_

**…**

"Come on." Simmons stands outside the door and I blink at her in surprise.

_I thought May was coming for us. This is weird. Did she get hurt or something? Did she die? Are my friends okay? Jeez, what was I thinking? We should have all stuck together! I'm so stupid!_

"Is something wrong? Where is Agent May? Is everyone alright?" My voice is loud and worried.

"The other agents are going on a mission so you and your friends are with Fitz and me; everything is fine." Simmons offers me a small smile.

"Where are my friends then?" I demand quickly and I can see her fighting the urge to roll her eyes at me and my paranoia.

"Follow me; they are with Fitz in the labs. Stay close and try to be quiet. The less you talk the better."

"Why?"

"Because you aren't supposed to be here." She walks away and I slip my hand through Chava's to keep her close.

**…**

"What are you guys working on?"

"It's classified." Simmons says distractedly as she examines something through her Microsoft. I sigh and slouch down in my chair before quickly sitting right back up.

"Want to gamble?" I ask Chava and Fitz-Simmons give me a disapproving look that only worsens when Chava agrees (rather quickly) to play poker with me. I sigh inwardly and pull a bag of hard candy out of my pocket. Fitz rolls his eyes at me jokingly and Simmons laughs at him.

Chava wins the game and gives a small shout of victory. The two scientists glance over and smile a little before returning promptly to their work while I glare down at the deck. What is up with my playing skills this week? I never lose!

Yawning, I lean back against the wall and close my eyes.

**…**

_My little brother, Shlomo, is giggling. His freckles leap and dance as the happiness rushes over him like a raging tsunami. Chava rolls a ball across the floor and I bat it towards Shlomo with my hand. The small boy picks it up and attempts to teeth with it. Slobber oozes over the pink plastic ball and I shudder as I take it away and give him a teething toy instead. My mother walks into the room and watches us with a strange expression on her face. Her eyes are blank. Her face hard. Something bad had just happened; she always looked this way when something bad happened._

_So, what was it?_

_"__We're going to go out for a while. Put the kids to bed," she tells me. Her voice is strained and filled with unseen tears. Something is ripping her apart and she can barely hold the pieces together. _

_But, I'm only thirteen…I'm not old enough to babysit at night. Chava is four and Shlomo is one—it wasn't going to be easy to put them down…and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. There were no groceries in the fridge. What were we going to eat?_

_"__When are you coming back?" I ask._

_"__I don't know." She says and then she walks out the door with a bottle of alcohol held tightly in her hand._

_"__Where's Dad?" I call after her._

_"__Work." She slams the door to her car. The highlights flick on. She backs up and drives away into the darkness as she talks quickly into her cell phone. Tears slip down her cheeks. Her eyes will be red and splotchy soon, her nose running down her face._

_"__I'm hungry," Chava whines and she turns her big eyes on me._

_"__I don't know," I say and I walk to the fridge, knowing that I won't find anything useful in it and I don't. I turn to the pantry and open up the creaking door to pear inside: nothing._

_"__What's for dinner?" She asks and my stomach growls._

_The phone rings and I pick it up quickly, "Hello?" I ask._

_"__Hey, Hope. What's up? It's Serina."_

_"__It's going okay…I guess." I want to tell her everything, but what could she do to help? She was only a year older than I was. Besides, Mom said that if I ever told anyone about the drinking or the violence, people would come to take us away. Forever. That made everybody a bad guy—an enemy. And yet…Serina always seemed to know when something was up. I could bury my problems in a ten foot hole and then fill it with cement—she always found them. _

_"__I'm coming over. Don't worry: dinner's on me." _

_A weight lifts off my chest and I find myself sighing with relief. An hour later, she's ringing my doorbell. Her shoes are worn down, her clothes ratty. Serina was from a poor family that was trapped in poverty. How she got take out is forever a mystery to me, but we still ate it. When they're fed, Serina camps out on my couch and curls into a ball. Her eyes flicker shut and I throw a blanket over her before carrying Chava and then Shlomo to bed. _

_Tomorrow was going to be better._

_It had to be._

**…**

"Alright, time to go. They're back." Chava shakes me awake and I blink up at her. My entire body is tense and coiled from the unexpected physical contact but I relax quickly upon seeing Chava's beaming face. Everything is alright. I release a sigh of relief.

"Lead the way, shorty." I say and she giggles.


End file.
